USA

ByCompiled from wire service reports by Ross AtkinFebruary 21, 2006

The Treasury Department ordered a freeze on the assets of KindHearts, an Ohio charitable organization with alleged ties to the Palestinian militant organization Hamas. The group, which is based in Toledo, identifies itself as a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid to the world's poor. The government claims KindHearts has made contributions to the Hamas-affiliated Holy Land Foundation and the Al Qaeda-affiliated Global Relief Foundation.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it will provide trailer homes or apartments to New Orleans police officers and other first responders after March 1, the same cutoff being used to move civilian evacuees from FEMA-sponsored hotels. The city's emergency workers and their families have been living and eating free of charge on two cruise ships that are being returned to private service.

The FBI said the latest suspected arson attack on a rural Alabama church did not appear related to 11 others, 10 of which remain unsolved. This time, whoever attempted Sunday to set fire to a Church of God chapel in Etoway County did so from outside the building, making the blaze unlike a series of others that authorities have called possible hate crimes. The chapel sustained only minor damage to its vinyl siding. The one solved case involved a copycat arsonist.

Fugitives Geoffrey and Gregory Rose, who werearrested in New Mexico over the weekend for stockpiling munitions, will be returned to Kansas to face outstanding charges, the US Marshals Service said. Federal agents issued arrest warrants for the brothers 15 years ago for unlawful storage of explosives and illegal possession of drugs and firearms. According to authorities, the men share "a hatred of the US government."

About 3,600 union workers of Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp., went on strike Monday, the first walkout at the helicoptermaker since 1963. Plants in Connecticut, where the company is based, and Florida were affected. Union negotiators rejected a contract offer that calls for workers to assume a greater share of their healthcare costs.

Jimmie Johnson, the winning driver in Sunday'sDaytona 500, said members of his Hendrick Motorsports team expect NASCAR officials to extend a ban on crew chief Chad Knaus. Officials said Knaus illegally altered Johnson's Chevrolet before his qualifying run. Although the car passed a prerace inspection, the team has a history of questionable conduct.